Joe Sofia

School

UCLA

Position

Defender

Major

Communication Studies

G

1

A

0

PTS

2

Classroom

Sofia has upheld a 3.965 cumulative GPA in communication studies and is on track to graduate after the Fall quarter after just three years and one quarter. He has held the highest GPA among all of UCLA’s student-athletes since the spring of 2012 and has made the Director’s Honor Roll in every one of his quarters at UCLA (nine times in total). In 2012, Sofia became the first UCLA men’s soccer player to earn first-team Capital One Academic All-America honors. Additionally, he has been named to the first-team Pac-12 All-Academic team for the past two seasons.

Character

Sofia is a representative for the men’s soccer team on UCLA’s Bruin Athletic Council, a leadership group that consists of representatives from all 22 of UCLA’s teams. The council serves as a forum for student-athletes to offer their input regarding the student-athlete experience to the athletic administration and to create unity among all athletic teams. Within the Bruin Athletic Council, Sofia has served on the Legislative Committee, working with fellow group members to create an effective strategy to strengthen communication between the compliance office and the UCLA student-athletes. This coming quarter, Sofia is developing an Anti-Bullying curriculum with some fellow student-athletes that will be distributed to local middle schools. While working closely with Ben Cohen’s Stand up Foundation, Sofia and the other student-athletes will create a curriculum that will emphasize preventing bullying across many spectrums, including homophobic bullying and racial bullying.

Community

Included amongst the community service ventures Sofia has volunteered for: UCLA’s I’m Going To College program, giving campus tours and doing autograph signings for the collegiate community outreach effort; Prime Time Games; Bruin-for-a-day program; and Marathon Kids, a school and community-based fitness program. Sofia also was able to advise kids from Emerson Middle School on the importance of good study habits, goals and hard work. He has continued the relationship with these middle schoolers when the Emerson kids came to campus to participate in UCLA’s Bruin for-a-day program.

Competition

Playing as a center back, Sofia has played in 63 matches in his three-year career, starting 62 of them. He’s helped lead UCLA to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, Pac-12 titles in 2011 and 2012, and the 2011 College Cup Semifinals. As a freshman in 2010, he earned first-team All-Rookie honors from Top Drawer Soccer, scoring a goal and recording three assists in 20 matches played. Sofia also helped lead the Bruins to nine shutouts as UCLA reached the NCAA Quarterfinals. In 2011, he was a honorable mention All-Pac-12 selection after starting all 24 of UCLA’s matches at center back. He scored one goal and recorded one assist, all while helping UCLA record 12 shutouts, the third-highest total in school history. Included in those 12 shutouts were a school-record tying eight in a row. As a junior in 2012, Sofia earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors, recording a single-season best four assists and two goals (eight points). In addition, Sofia led the team in minutes with 1,789.